Russell T Davies on grief, threats and Doctor Who’s uncertain future
In an interview with The Guardian, the screenwriter reflects on caring for his husband, finding love again and the online abuse he says has followed his support for trans rights.
Russell T Davies’s television career has moved between cultural provocation and popular drama. The screenwriter behind Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin revived Doctor Who as showrunner from 2005 to 2010; now, he says, online abuse has crossed into a more immediate fear.
Speaking to The Guardian, Davies says years of death threats and “groomer” smears linked to his support for trans rights have included someone coming to his home. He says he keeps a kitchen knife by the front door. The interview does not establish who visited or why.
Davies also revisits the years he spent caring for his husband, Andrew Smith, after Smith was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Smith died in 2018. Davies says those years brought a deep intimacy, and that he remembers them vividly.
After a period he describes as quiet, Davies says he has begun a relationship with Australian model Oliver Cole. The interview accompanies his memoir, The Queerest of Folk, due to be published on 8 October.
His latest Doctor Who tenure drew criticism from some fans, and the BBC–Disney+ partnership has ended. The series is off air while production of future episodes goes to competitive tender; no outcome has been reported. Davies says he wonders whether he could have done some things differently, but remains proud of the work.
